Sunday, October 23, 2005

in 711 AUC, Marcus Junius Brutus is publicly executed for his part in the conspiracy to assassinate Roman dictator Julius Caesar. Since he and Caesar had been friends, he had begged the dictator for exile rather than death, but Caesar wanted to make an example of him in order to prevent any other Senator from trying the same thing.

in 1805, Ireland declared its independence from the United Kingdom, launching a 4-year war for freedom from the British Crown. Since one of the Mlosh colony ships had landed on the Emerald Isle, there was a sizable minority of the aliens claiming Irish citizenship, and they stood with their neighbors against the British. They were at the forefront of the war, and after victory, instrumental in turning Ireland into a democratic confederation.

in 1855, in spite of strong pressure from pro-slavery ruffians from Missouri, Kansas elects an anti-slavery legislature. Retaliation by the invading Missourians sets off a bloody full-scale war as southern states send in volunteers to turn Kansas into a slave state while northern abolitionists hasten to the state to defend freedom. “Bloody Kansas,” as it becomes known, is the starting point of the American Civil War that begins in 1856.

in 1890, the Senate tables discussion of the Anti-Mormon Statute. In Utah Territory, newly displaced Latter-Day Saints swell the ranks of rebel Charles Brigman's army and Brigman begins planning his next assault against federal troops in Salt Lake City. Colonel Beauregard T. Jackson steps up patrols around the city to forestall any new attacks.

in 1905, Felix Bloch was born in Zurich, Switzerland. After moving to America in 1933, the great physicist fell in with Richard Tolman’s parallel dimensions cult and his Nobel win in 1952 gave it a shot of credibility. Like so many other members of the cult, he mysteriously disappeared in 1960 after giving a lecture at Stanford University about the ability to cross between realities at will.

in 1950, film legend Asa Yoelson dies in St. Petersburg, Soviet Union. Although he started his career as a comedian, he moved into film after the revolution and was soon obsessed with the technology of film. He got the backing of party officials in Moscow to make the first talking picture in 1927, The Jazz Singer, about a young man who becomes obsessed with the decadent ways of the west until his father, a loyal Communist leader, needs him to come back to the party.

in 1956, the comrades of Hungary attempted to throw off the shackles of their reactionary oppressors. In spite of aid given by a sympathetic Soviet States of America, the country’s prime minister, a puppet of Russian and West German capitalists, crushes the rebellion with military assistance from those governments. Comrade President Joel Rosenberg calls it, “a black day for the freedom-loving people of Europe”.

in 1959, satirist Al Yankovic is born in Lynwood, California. Starting out his career at the Rolling Stone in 1978, Yankovic's acid pen was first aimed at the music industry, but he soon broadened his focus to all of popular culture, penning such classics as UHF, (which was made into a movie of the same name), and Dare To Be Stupid, poking fun at the “punk” rockers of the late 70's and early 80's. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary, rare for a comic journalist, in 1991.

in 1978, Doctor Barnett Slepian was shot to death at his home in Amherst, New York. Slepian, a Jewish doctor who had been suspected of treating Semitic-African Resistance members without reporting them, had been threatened with death many times in his career, but had always managed to evade the killers until this day.

in 1983, terrorists in Beirut blow up a hotel near the airport, killing almost 200 people. Since the failure of pro-Palestinian separatists to take over the country in the Civil War of 1975-77, they had taken to random acts of violence against the Lebanese people. This was one of the worst attacks in their history, and it backfired; popular support for the government increased after the terrible toll of this bombing.

TIAH HALLOWEEN CONTEST: EXTENDED BY 5 DAYS - no donation required, just send us your stuff! Only 2 days left! We're extending the deadline to October 25th to give you more time to get in those entries!

In order to give us a tad more time for Halloween, Today In Alternate History is sponsoring its first contest - email us up to 3 alternate history entries for October 31st, 2005. The best 10 entries will make up the entire content of the post on October 31st, Halloween day. Entries must be received by October 25th! Boring Legal Info - By entering the contest, you grant TIAH the right to electronically print your writing on October 31st, 2005, maintain your writing in our archives, and reprint your entry should we decide to reuse it in the future. TIAH only maintains full copyright over material it has originated that has been used by contestants in writing their own entries. Enter early and often!

Also, we still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

Forum Link not working for now - Forum has been hacked! We're working on getting it back, and will let you know once it's back up.Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?

Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com

Still wishing...

As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!

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